Uncanny Valley

While I am not afeared of writing about factory tours of any kind, even paper factories. But this one has had quite a movement with its new product line: Roo Poo paper. Indeed, it is stationery, um, recycled, from marsupial waste. Kangaroos are herbivores, and a lot of fiber remains in the excrement. The factory is pretty eco-friendly to begin with, so after hearing about a similar venture with elephant dung, why not? There is also a paper-maker’s garden, with plants suitable for making unusual papers, so I don’t think Roo Poo paper will be the only unique product here.

On the tour, you get to make and keep your own paper, I assume it’s the normal kind though. There also is information about papermaking history, and art from the artists-in-residence on display.

A town where most of the people under the desert in the cool underground, Coober Pedy is so desolate-looking that films such as Pitch Black and Mad Max were shot here. In fact many of the props are still here. The genesis of the underground living was the discovery and subsequent mining of opal, which produced many old mines that later became housing, known vernacularly as dugouts. There is a dugout museum, a few dugout churches, and even a dugout hotel.

A cast of spider crabs covering an area of 500m² and 1m high is congregating in the waters near Melbourne as of 26 May 2005. Yes, cast is the proper term of venery just as pride is for lions or unkindness is for ravens. Feel free to use it in your next Yo Mama joke.

Allegedly the cast is on it’s wane, so if you don’t manage to get your flippers on in time you can wait for the videos to be posted.

No do I bring you guys the best tour spots ever? Take that, rival travel site! We’ll show you who has crabs!

Note that the coordinates are just a vague estimate. I’d ask a local if I were you. All I really know is that they’re in 4m of water close to a beach.

Video here.